


World of Silence

by jencey86



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Deaf Character, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-02 17:17:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14549511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jencey86/pseuds/jencey86
Summary: Santana was born deaf. She meets Quinn when the woman is in doing a story on the Columbus School for the Deaf. But Quinn can't stay away. The only problem, Quinn doesn't know sign language and Santana is making her work for a date.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was shifted around from originally being a Dani/Santana story. So I do apologize if I missed any name changes. I don't think I did though.
> 
> This story idea was given to me by someone on Tumblr. She said she read a story that was "somewhat" similar to this. But neither of us could find the story. If you know of a story where Santana is deaf and meets Dani, let me know. It is NOT my intention to steal the idea. I want to give whatever original creator credit for the idea if they wish. Just drop a review or send me a private message. Thank you!

 

They say your other senses take over when you're missing one. Your hearing enhances when you have no sight. Your smell enhances when you have no hearing. And so on. That was Santana's story. She was born without eardrums. When she was a child she had implants to try to correct it, but it still made things very hard for her. The implants helped for a while but her hearing deteriorated as she got older. Now, with the implant she could only hear loud noises, most of everything else was silent.

But, Santana accepted this. At 34 years old, this was her life. If someone was screaming at her, she could just barely hear them. There were more experimental surgeries available that she qualified for, but she chose not to do any of them. She'd accepted the fact that couldn't hear anything anymore. Her world of silence was perfect for her.

She loved her job. She worked at the Columbus school for the deaf. Most of her lessons were for young children that were learning sign language for the first time. What she loved the most, was working with brothers and sisters of children that were deaf or hearing impaired.

What she loved the most, was that to the regular person, she wasn't deaf. Nobody saw her implants when she had her hair down. Catching their reaction when she ran her fingers through her hair always brought a smile to her face. At least over the years, she'd gotten really good at reading lips.

"Hi how are you today?" She read the lips of the barista.

Santana held up her hand before motioning to her ear and shaking her head. The woman at the counter quickly smiled and nodded before grabbing a menu so Santana could show her what she wanted. "Thank you," she signed to her before pointing to what she wanted. It was the same thing every time she stopped at Starbucks in the morning before work. But it wasn't the same young man that normally waited on her.

She stepped off to the side and accepted the small buzzer she was given for when her order came up. Santana pulled out her phone and looked down at it to read through some of her work e-mails to see if there was anything she had to be prepared for, for the day. She furrowed her brows some when she read an important e-mail about a journalist coming in to meet with some of the teachers after lunch that day.

Working at a school for the deaf tended to bring in some unwanted attention. It made it rough sometimes. They were no different than any other school across the country. It wasn't a private school but the only requirement for students to go there was medical documentation stating they were deaf or hearing impaired. Most students were young, below 10. Once they hit middle school age, the public-school systems were better equipped to help them out.

What Santana didn't notice, was a young man attempting to talk to her. She didn't notice him because he was behind her and her head was angled down toward her phone. She ran her fingers through her hair and he spotted the cochlear implant behind her right ear. He huffed some before leaving her alone. When Santana finally looked up, she noticed him walking by her, but glancing back some. Out of respect, she smiled to him even though she wasn't interested.

She looked up when she felt the small device vibrate in her hand. "Thank you," she signed to the woman before handing the device over to her and picking up her Venti latte and banana nut bread.

Santana tucked her phone away in her purse and got her car keys back out as she walked to her car so she could finish the last few minute drive to the school.

* * *

Quinn wasn't exactly sure why she'd been sent off to the Columbus School for the Deaf to do a piece. But, it was her job to write the stories that were assigned to her. It was supposed to be a piece on how wonderful the school was, but she was also a journalist. There was always some underlying tone and reasoning for sending someone on a job. She checked her time, it was just after 12PM. Her time slot was at 12:30 that day. They'd arranged for an interpreter to go around with her as she asked questions.

Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her bag and climbed out of her car to head inside so she could check in at the school. As she walked in, she saw a woman waving to what appeared to be her class of kindergarteners. She clapped her hands some and waved to get them to hurry, all with a big smile on her face. The woman appeared to be about her age and was absolutely stunning.

Quinn smiled when she saw her get the kids attention and sign something to them before watching them run out the side door and out onto the playground. The woman waited until her small group was outside before following them. It was obvious to Quinn that it was recess time before they went back to the classroom.

She followed the signs she saw that pointed toward the main office. "Hi, I'm Quinn Fabray. I have an appointment." She smiled politely toward the man at the desk.

"Hi Ms. Fabray, welcome to the Columbus School for the Deaf. We hope that you find only good things to report on."

Quinn chuckled softly as she leaned down to sign the papers she needed to and accepted her pass. "I'll be honest, I'm not even entirely sure why I was sent here. It looks just like any other school."

"It is. We just have to do things a little differently here is all. Ms. Fabray, this is Curtis, he'll be going around with you today to help interpret your questions to our faculty."

"Please, just call me Quinn." The blonde reached out to shake the younger man's hand.

Curtis smiled to her as he shook her hand. "Our staff has already been informed of your visit. So, they're prepared for whatever kinds of questions you may have for them."

Quinn dug out a small recorder. It had always been easiest for her to record all of her questions then listen to them later on to make notes before writing her article. "May I ask why they insisted I have an interpreter with me?"

"That's an easy one. All but three of our teachers are deaf. We truly believe that the best teachers for this school are ones that completely understand what it's like to not have the sense of hearing."

Quinn smiled toward him as they walked down the hallway. It made perfect sense to her for them to employ deaf teachers. "So where are we off to first?"

"Just a tour. Some of the classes are still enjoying lunch while others, the younger classes, are having recess time."

The blonde stayed with Curtis as they came to the cafeteria first. It was a little eerie to her since she had her hearing. It was silent. She understood why, but it was still different than what she was used to. She stayed quiet as she moved through the rest of the school with her interpreter. She jumped some when she saw some lights flashing through the halls.

"We don't have bells here, doesn't make sense to have them. The lights indicate the end of lunch or recess. They go around the outside too. They're hooked to their own generator in case of power failure as well." Curtis stopped at a fork in the hallway and turned to look at Quinn again. "The school is divided into classes mainly based on age. A majority of the older students return to public schools when they hit middle school age. I was thinking we could start in one of the younger classes. Miss Lopez teaches the students sign language and reading and writing. She even helps out with the parents and siblings to teach them too."

Quinn smiled to him. "Do they do classes for adults that wish to learn sign language?"

"Yes, she actually does them on Tuesday and Thursday nights here at the school. She focuses on mostly conversational sign language. It's enough to help the average person get by when they encounter someone that's deaf."

Curtis led them toward the room and opened the door for them to go in. Quinn paused some when she spotted the same woman she saw when she first entered the school. She had to remind herself that usually when she had an instant attraction to someone, they were straight. 

The woman was busy with her class, showing them some pictures of things then signing it to them so they would know what it was. Quinn stood back and watched for a moment as the woman coupled the picture with the sign language and writing the word onto the board. It was fascinating to her. She never had the problem that all the kids in the room did. She never had the struggle to learn to read and write because she could hear the words.

Curtis waved some, getting the teacher's attention. Santana signed something to her students, giving them a break as she went to meet with Curtis and the beautiful blonde that stood beside him. "Hi," she waved toward Quinn and smiled to her.

Quinn looked at the woman for a moment, realizing that she wasn't one of the teachers that could hear. She waved back, "Hi." She stated out loud, seeing Santana smile widen. The darker woman ran her fingers through her hair and Quinntook note of the implant she saw on the side of the woman's head and assumed she had one on the other side as well.

"Ms. Lopez here teaches the 5 to 7 year olds." Curtis signed as he spoke to Quinn as well.

Quinn took note of the way that Santana watched them both intently. She figured the other woman could read lips.

"Hi, my name is Quinn." The blonde extended her hand toward the woman.

"Hi, Quinn, please call me Santana. All the kids do." Curtis spoke on Santana's behalf.

Quinn smiled when Santana reached out to shake her hand. The Latina signed something else to Curtis, causing the man to laugh some and shake his head. "What did she say?" Quinn asked out of curiosity.

Curtis signed something back to Santana and Quinn saw her nod. "She said you're cute."

Quinn instantly blushed before lifting her hand to her chin to sign "thank you" back to her. It was the only bit of sign language she knew and felt herself relax some when Santana smiled widely to her. "May I ask you some questions about what you do here?"

Santana watched Curtis for a moment before she nodded and motioned for Quinn to follow her over to where her desk was. Quinn and Curtis followed Santana across the room as the kids read through their assignment that Santana gave to them. Quinn took her time asking some questions to Santana and recording all of Curtis' answers on Santana's behalf.

They spent nearly a half hour with Santana. The Latina was happy to answer everything that Quinn asked of her. "The article should be up by the end of the week. It will be sent to the dean once it's ran." She explained as she turned off her recorder and tucked it back into her bag before standing up.

"I look forward to reading it." Santana signed to Curtis then shook Quinn's hand. Santana watched them for a moment as they left and shook her head some. She thought back to Quinn's reaction when she complimented her but knew she would probably never see her again. Columbus was a big city.

Santana returned to her kids once they closed the door behind them, but she couldn't stop thinking about Quinn. She never had much luck in the dating department. She'd dated women that were deaf and women that weren't. It was always hard both ways. Women that could hear seemed to be more difficult for things to work out because they never understood the struggle Santana felt.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Santana was born deaf. She meets Quinn when the woman is in doing a story on the Columbus School for the Deaf. But Quinn can't stay away. The only problem, Quinn doesn't know sign language and Santana is making her work for a date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was shifted around from originally being a Dani/Santana story. So I do apologize if I missed any name changes. I don't think I did though.
> 
> This story idea was given to me by someone on Tumblr. She said she read a story that was "somewhat" similar to this. But neither of us could find the story. If you know of a story where Santana is deaf and meets Dani, let me know. It is NOT my intention to steal the idea. I want to give whatever original creator credit for the idea if they wish. Just drop a review or send me a private message. Thank you!

**_World of Silence_ **

**_Chapter 2_ **

****

Quinn was nervous. Santana had called her cute and she wasn’t sure what to think of it. Her past relationships had all failed, but at 35 she knew she wasn’t getting any younger. She couldn’t just be afraid to put herself out there anymore. She decided to register for the next round of Santana’s sign language classes. It had been two weeks since she was at the school and wrote the article about it. The Tuesday classes were for beginners and the Thursday classes were more intermediate conversational sign language.

 

She pulled into the parking lot and grabbed her purse before heading inside with a few other people. Learning sign language, or at least enough to get by would only be beneficial for her. She’d encountered deaf individuals in the past and had no idea how to communicate with them and she felt bad.

 

Quinn found an empty seat in the classroom and placed her purse on the floor beside her before glancing around the room some. Part of her worried that Santana wouldn’t remember her, but as the Latina came into the room and saw her, she smiled shyly and waved to her.

 

Santana wasn’t expecting to see Quinn sitting in her class, but she could admit to herself that it was nice to see the woman again. After putting her bag down, she got some papers out to hand to everybody. She lingered for a moment near Quinn and smiled again to her.

 

The paper that was placed in front of her only had a few lines on it, stating to everybody Santana’s name and the fact that she was deaf. All beginning communication with her needed to be in some form of writing. Once Santana finished handing the papers to the few people that were sitting in the classroom, she went up to write something onto the board.

 

Alphabet.

 

Quinn made sure to pay attention as Santana wrote something onto the top piece of paper from her next stack before she passed them out to the group of adults. Quinn looked at the paper that was placed in front of her before looking up to meet Santana’s eyes. _‘Stay after please?_ ’ Quinn looked up at her and nodded some before actually looking at what was on the paper. It was the alphabet and how to do each letter.

 

“Names.” Santana’s voice came out, filling the room and causing Quinn to look up. It wasn’t often that Santana actually spoke, but when she did, she always struggled to keep her volume under control. Santana took her time, spelling out her own name so the others could see each of the letters. Santana started around the room, pointing to each person for them to spell out their names.

 

When it was Quinn’s turn, she looked down at the paper before lifting her right hand to spell out ‘Quinn.’

 

“Good,” Santana lifted her right hand to her lips before lowering it to rest on her left palm toward Quinn. She’d done the same thing with all the others. “Hi, my name is…” Santana took things slowly with each sign and motioned for the others to follow her.

 

Santana kept everything simple for the first class, focusing on the alphabet and numbers, along with some basic conversation. When she finished, she wrote good night up on the board and signed it to everybody as they started to gather things up. “Work on the alphabet for next Tuesday.” Santana sat at her desk and took her time to pack up her leftover papers.

 

Quinn watched as the others left before also taking her time with the papers Santana had given to them. She folded them in half and slid them down into her purse. Once they were alone in the room, she stood up and moved toward Santana.

 

“It’s nice to see you again.” She spoke and signed to the blonde.

 

Quinn smiled toward Santana before pointing to her and holding up two fingers. “You too.”

 

Santana covered her mouth to giggle some and shook her head. She really appreciated Quinn trying. She held up her hand to show Quinn how to properly respond. “Same.” She smiled when Quinn copied her.

 

The blonde decided to make a bold move then as she watched Santana. Reaching out, she grabbed the marker from the board and wrote ‘ _coffee?’_ on it. She looked back to see Santana tilt her head some, obviously thinking about it.

 

“Tonight?” She asked as she checked the watch on her wrist.

 

“If you’re free.” Quinn spoke without thinking. When she saw Santana just smirk at her and shake her head, she wrote it on the board for her to see.

 

Santana got Quinn’s attention to show her how to sign it. She waited to see Quinn do it before she answered her. “Yes. I would love to.”

 

* * *

 

 

Quinn took a deep breath as she got out of her car at Starbucks. It was only just down the road from the school. If she were being honest with herself, she had no idea what she was doing. When she got up by the door, she spotted Santana coming toward her as well.

 

Santana smiled when Quinn reached out to open the door for her. “Thank you,” she signed and watched Quinn think for a minute before replying to her. At least Santana could tell that Quinn was actually paying attention during her lesson earlier.

 

Getting in line, Quinn felt a little awkward, she didn’t know how to talk with Santana, but she figured that the Latina had something figured out. When they got to the counter, Quinn ordered her drink before motioning to Santana. She smiled as she watched the woman interacting with the barista.

 

Santana was happy that the normal man that she dealt with was there that night. He immediately pulled out a menu for her to decide her drink before handing her a small device. Santana turned to just stare at Quinn when the woman insisted on paying for both of their drinks. “Thank you.” She definitely wasn’t expecting the other woman to treat her. While Santana knew nothing of this woman besides the fact that she worked for a newspaper, she felt an instant attraction to her.

 

“I have a notebook in my purse.” Santana told Quinn, as softly as she could.

 

“Okay.” Quinn watched Santana for a moment. The woman was beautiful, and she was interested in getting to know her some more, but it would be hard until she learned some more sign language. When their drinks finally came up, Santana handed her device over and grabbed her latte. Quinn picked up her own cup and followed Santana off to the side, so they could sit in peace.

 

Once they were settled, Santana dug into her purse for her notebook and pen. Being deaf, it was easiest to have the notebook with her in case she had to spend more time with someone. She ran her fingers through her hair to get it out of her face as she started writing something on the paper then showed it to Quinn.

 

_Why are you taking my class?_

Quinn blushed some as she looked at it then glanced to Santana. She accepted the pen from the woman before writing out her response.

 

_I wanted to see you again_

Santana slowly grinned to her and sipped her latte before she dug through her purse to find another pen. She turned the notebook back to her.

 

_How old are you Quinn?_

_35, you?_

_Just turned 34_

Quinn leaned back some on her chair and sipped her coffee. She pulled the notebook in front of her again as she watched Santana.

 

_Anybody special in your life?_

Santana chuckled and shook her head to her. Quinn took the notebook to write something else.

 

_I know this is bold but can I take you to dinner sometime?_

 

Santana thought for a moment. She needed to see how serious Quinn was before attempting to pursue anything. She’d given women a chance before that claimed they wanted to learn sign language to communicate with her, but they never stuck to it because it wasn’t easy to learn. Since Santana taught it, she knew it wasn’t easy.

 

_No. Not right now. Learn some more sign language first. I’ve dated women before that said they’d learn but never did._

Quinn watched as Santana wrote. Her heart sunk some when she read the word ‘no,’ but as Santana kept writing, she understood.

 

_What do you recommend for me to learn?_

_My classes, youtube videos. I recommend to a lot of people when they start learning to wear earplugs so they understand better what it’s like to not hear._

It made sense. Quinn didn’t understand Santana’s struggle, but she did understand why the woman was being cautious. Quinn nodded to her before watching as she wrote something else.

 

_But I am interested in getting to know you better. Let me see your phone_

Quinn reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Once she unlocked it for Santana, she handed it to her and watched as the woman put in her own phone number. Quinn knew at that point that it was all up to her. They’d be able to talk through text message, but Quinn had to work to be able to talk with Santana without their phones in front of them.

 

Santana watched the woman for a moment then gathered up her notebook to put back into her purse. “Thank you for the coffee, Quinn.” She signed to her slowly, seeing Quinn’s confusion at the new motion. She pointed to her coffee cup and signed it again to her.

 

“You’re welcome.” Quinn picked up her purse and followed Santana out of the building.

 

Once outside on the sidewalk, Santana turned toward Quinn. “Good night, Quinn.” She winked to her and reached out to touch her arm gently before she headed back to her car. Once she was inside, she sighed softly and pulled out her phone to send her best friend a text message.

 

_Santana: So, I think I met someone. But she’s not deaf_

_Dani: Remember last time that happened, San?_

_Santana: I know. I had coffee with her. She’s cute. And she asked me to dinner. But I told her she had to learn sign language first_

_Dani: Good. You got in deep with the last one that said shed learn but didn’t_

_Santana: I’m on my way home now, see you soon_

Santana put her phone to the side and started her car to head home. She’d lived with her best friend since shortly after they graduated college. It worked out well because other than Dani, Santana had very few friends and having Dani around helped to keep her from being lonely.


End file.
